Politics
Monday July 21, 2008
A Nation that Condemns "Beautiful and Blameless Unborn Babies" is "Ethically and Politically Untrustworthy": Scottish Catholic Bishop
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
GLASGOW, Scotland, July 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The work of the Church to protect the unborn, to assist "frightened young" pregnant women and to help to "secure a better standard of living and greater opportunities for the poor," far from being mutually exclusive, are closely interrelated works that cannot be separated from each other, according to the Catholic bishop of Motherwell.
Joseph Devine, the fourth bishop of the diocese that encompasses parts of Glasgow in Scotland, said, "Indeed, a nation that condemns to abortion our beautiful and blameless unborn babies betrays itself as morally, ethically and politically untrustworthy and disinclined to give due care and attention to the poorest and weakest members of our society."
"Britain has among the highest abortion rates, the highest rates of family breakdown and the worst social problems in modern Europe. Do not tell me these things are not connected," the bishop wrote in an op-ed appearing in the Herald.
The bishop was responding to a column appearing in the Herald on July 15 in which Colette Douglas Home complained that too much attention was being paid to the fate of unborn children in the riding of Glasgow East, in which the nation is watching a by-election that is a crucial test for the Labour government.
The constituency is one of the poorest in Britain, with two thirds of its population living on public benefits and a life-expectancy 14 years below the national average.
"They have no shortage of needs to address," Douglas Home wrote. "At this time of economic downturn, in this deprived area, does the Catholic hierarchy have any right to assert that people will vote on the issue of other people's unborn children, when their own children are in need?"
To which Bishop Devine gives an unequivocal 'yes.' In his op-ed the bishop assures Ms. Douglas Home "that hardly a day passes when most priests and ministers of all denominations do not serve the poor and marginalised in our communities."
"Quite properly, the electorate will decide which issues are their priorities and vote accordingly. We can only hope that they give due consideration to family and life issues. It is certainly our duty to draw such issues to their attention."
Bishop Devine quotes polls that show 67 percent of the British population opposed to the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos. "Let me clarify once and for all that embryology research and abortion are not Catholic issues. Nor are they even multi-faith issues. They are national issues."
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Scotland Catholic Bishop Warns of "Huge and Well Orchestrated Conspiracy" by Homosexual Activists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08031306.html
Scotland Bishop Blasts Parliament Decision to Allow Gay Adoption
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022703.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Pro-Lifer Attacked with SUV, Alleged Attacker Charged
- Huckabee Hashes Out Abortion Arguments with Comedian Jon Stewart
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Amnesty International Caught in "One Big Lie"
- Editorial: Archbishop Weisgerber is Wrong - Vatican Stopped its Donation to UNICEF in 1996
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Government of Trinidad and Tobago: No Homosexual "Weddings," No Abortion
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.